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Category: top 25

Baylor quarterback Seth Russell (17) fumbles the ball as Oklahoma defensive back Will Johnson (12) grabs him during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Norman, Okla. on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Baylor quarterback Seth Russell suffered a gruesome dislocated left ankle injury Saturday, and his college career is likely over.

Additionally, starting running back Terence Williams left the game on crutches in the first quarter and did not return.

Russell, a senior, was hurt late in the third quarter of the Bears’ 45-24 loss to 11th-ranked Oklahoma. He was scrambling out of the pocket and gained about 10 yards before being hit by Sooners freshman linebacker Caleb Kelly.

Russell immediately began pointing to his left leg, which bent awkwardly. He was in obvious discomfort and eventually was carted off the field.

Baylor (6-3) has three games left, not counting a bowl. The only chance Russell could have of returning would be for a bowl game, though that is unlikely.

Russell struggled before the injury Saturday, completing 15 of 31 passes for 148 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.

Oklahoma State safety Jordan Sterns (13) intercepts a pass in the end zone from Kansas State quarterback Jesse Ertz, intended for wide receiver Deante Burton (6), to end the game in Manhattan, Kan., on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016. Oklahoma State won, 43-37. (Bo Rader/Wichita Eagle/TNS)

Everyone else in the league has two or more defeats — and Oklahoma isn’t losing two more games, so forget about it.

The No. 18 Cowboys win in Manhattan, a very tough place to play, resonates. Especially the way OSU pulled it off, surviving three turnovers and rallying from a 37-28 deficit with 8 minutes left.

“If we lose that game, this press conference is about being poor in special teams, you turn the ball over and can’t stop the run then it’s hard to win a football game,” coach Mike Gundy told reporters. “I told our team earlier that it’s a great accomplishment to win up here.”

Mason Rudolph connected with James Washington on an 82-yard touchdown pass to slice the gap to 37-35. Then the defense got a stop, and Chris Carson capped the go-ahead drive with a 17-yard touchdown run.

Kansas State (5-4, 3-3) had a chance to win, but quarterback Jesse Ertz was intercepted by Jordan Sterns in the OSU end zone to end the game.

Rudolph passed for 457 yards and five touchdowns.

“We need to improve our defense against the pass,” said Wildcats coach Bill Snyder, whose team has given up at least 300 yards through the air four of the past five games. “My 9-year-old granddaughter knows that. And I don’t have a 9-year-old granddaughter.”

AMES, IA – NOVEMBER 3: Wide receiver Dede Westbrook #11 of the Oklahoma Sooners breaks away from defensive back Evrett Edwards #4 of the Iowa State Cyclones to score a touchdown in the first half of play at Jack Trice Stadium on November 3, 2016 in Ames, Iowa. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images)

Oklahoma remained the team that can’t be beaten in the Big 12, the Sooners kept their faint College Football Playoff hopes alive and Lake Travis ex Baker Mayfield played another terrific game at quarterback.

And, oh, yeah, Dede Westbrook continues making his case as the best wide receiver in the country during 14th-ranked Oklahoma’s 34-24 win at Iowa State on Thursday night.

Westbrook, a former Cameron Yoe standout, was the hottest pass catcher in FBS during October. He started November pretty well, too, catching seven balls for 131 yards and posting 102 return yards.

Westbrook entered the game averaged 210.4 all-purpose yards. The senior had 183 by halftime against the Cyclones.

Westbrook is second nationally in receiving yardage with 1,166 and touchdown catches with 12. He hauled in a 65-yarder Thursday after Iowa State had taken a 17-14 edge.

“That was a big jolt. They didn’t have the lead but for 10 seconds,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “Dede and Baker have been doing that a bunch.”

Oklahoma got an unexpected lift from Dimitri Flowers, its normal fullback. With both Hendrickson’s Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon out, the Sooners needed someone to carry the ball. Flowers took it and ran with it, gaining 115 yards on 22 carries. He also caught a TD pass and blocked well.

“I told everybody in the locker room that I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a guy do all of that so well in a game,” Stoops said. “And he had two days of practice to do it.”

The Sooners (7-2, 6-0), missing a lot of players to injuries and suspension, were far from perfect, especially their offensive line. Mayfield was sacked three times and hit hard on several other occasions.

The Cyclones (1-8, 0-6), even without injured star running back Mike Warren, were competitive. They always are on weekday night at home. Iowa State came in with a 5-1 record in its last six weekday night games at Jack Trice Stadium, the only loss being a controversial one to Texas.

Oklahoma will now hit the teeth of its conference schedule, finishing against Baylor, West Virginia and Oklahoma State.

Guard Frank Mason III (0) and several top players return to the Kansas Jayhawks this year, but Texas and most everyone else in the Big 12 suffered heavy losses. It made it very easy for one Associated Press national poll voter to rank Kansas way above any other conference school and only behind Duke and defending national champion Villanova overall. (RICARDO B. BRAZZIELL / AMERICAN- STATESMAN)

For the fourth year in a row, I am honored to be invited back to The Associated Press’ 65-person national media panel that makes up the men’s college basketball poll.

There are three voters from the state of Texas, one of six states that have three on the panel.

My preseason ballot begins with Duke, which returns a top All-American candidate and leader in Grayson Allen, the irascible shooting guard who gets in opponents’ heads. The Blue Devils also bring in the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class, including four five-star players, although that group already has been hit by injuries.

Defending national champion Villanova is No. 2 on my list, powered by two of its stars from last year, Kris Jenkins and Josh Hart.

Kansas — as always — is the Big 12 heavyweight and deserved the No. 3 spot. The Jayhawks have two players on the preseason All-Big 12 team, guards Frank Mason and Devonte’ Graham, along with several other veteran pieces. Guard Josh Jackson is the consensus No. 1 recruit in the country, according to 247Sports.com.

Only three Big 12 teams made my preseason poll: No. 3 Kansas, No. 22 West Virginia and No. 23 Texas. And quite honestly, the Mountaineers and Longhorns do not return enough proven talent to be sure things in the poll, but they have recruited well and have some promising young players from last year’s ranked teams.

Oklahoma, which made the Final Four last season, also has a major rebuild job without Buddy Hield. Iowa State and Baylor, regulars in last year’s poll, also suffered significant losses, although the Cyclones do return point guard Monte’ Morris, the Big 12 preseason player of the year.

Texas A&M is another team gutted by graduation, but the Aggies, a Sweet 16 team in 2015-16, got the last spot in my poll, No. 25. Tyler Davis will be one of the best centers in the country. DJ Hogg and Tony Trocha-Morelos, along with Davis, give the Aggies plenty of size. A&M looks like the second-best team in the weak SEC, where only Kentucky is clearly superior.

West Virginia wide receiver Gary Jennings (12) struggles to free himself from a tackle by Oklahoma State linebacker Justin Phillips (19) during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016.(AP Photo/Brody Schmidt)

The chances of the Big 12 being a factor in the College Football Playoff were just about sliced in half when 10th-ranked West Virginia lost 37-20 at unranked Oklahoma State.

Seven of the eight unbeatens across the nation were each playing on the road Saturday, and the Mountaineers (6-1) became the first to fall.

The trip to Stillwater figured to be West Virginia’s toughest remaining road challenge, with only road games against Texas and Iowa State ahead.

“We just didn’t play as good as we have the last couple of weeks,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen told reporters. “Maybe we’re not as good as we thought we were.”

Now the Big 12 hopes rest on unbeaten Baylor’s shoulders, and the eighth-ranked Bears were trailing 23-21 at halftime at Texas.

When the day is done, it might be that the Mountaineers and Bears are the league’s only one-loss teams.

Of the two, West Virginia probably has a better chance of staying in the CFP race because it has faced the nation’s 28th most difficult schedule, while Baylor has played the 114th-ranked schedule, to date.

The rest of the way out, the Mountaineers have the more promising schedule, with both other contenders — Baylor and Oklahoma — coming to Morgantown.

Oklahoma (5-2, 4-0) and Oklahoma State (6-2, 4-1) join WVU and Baylor in what is now essentially a four-team race for the Big 12 championship.

Mason Rudolph rifled three touchdown passes for the Cowboys, who might have been in the bigger conversation had they not lost the controversial 30-27 game to the MAC’s Central Michigan.

Quarterback Skyler Howard let West Virginia down. He passed for only 212 yards, threw two interceptions and lost a fumble.

Running back Shock Linwood #32 of the Baylor Bears drives the ball into the end zone for a touchdown past defensive back Evrett Edwards #4, and defensive back Mike Johnson #3 of Iowa State for a touchdown in Ames, Iowa. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images)

Jim Grobe came to Baylor with a reputation as a coach who loves the option attack and a powerful running game. But the Bears boss said he’s had minimal input in his new team’s offense.

It raised some eyebrows last week when star quarterback Seth Russell threw only 22 times and passed for just 178 yards in the 45-42 comeback win at Iowa State. The numbers were career-lows for a game in which Russell played at least three quarters.

“I let Kendall (Briles) handle the play-calling,” Grobe said. “Our offense is geared toward taking what you give us. Iowa State was playing for the pass, so we ran.”

Did they ever. Baylor ran a whopping 62 times for 469 yards, 7.6 yards per carry, to run its record to 5-0.

The 13th-ranked Bears had a 200-yard rusher — Shock Linwood, who darted and dashed for 237 — and another 100-yard rusher — Terence Williams, who steamrolled to 126.

“I was proud that we didn’t abandon the running game,” Grobe said. “We were down by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, yet we showed patience. Our running game was cranked up.”

Baylor is No. 8 in the country and No. 1 in the Big 12 with an average of 290.2 rushing yards. Overall, the Bears have the nation’s No. 5 total offense at 568.4 yards per game and are No. 18 in scoring at 42.6 points per game.

Linwood and Williams each are on pace for 1,000-yard rushing seasons. Linwood has 454 yards in 67 carries (6.8 average) and Williams 410 yards in 71 trips (5.8).

Grobe said the Bears go into their bye week practically injury-free. They next host Kansas on Oct. 15.

Zach Smith #4 celebrates a touchdown with Chris Callahan #40 of Baylor against Northwestern State at McLane Stadium on September 2, 2016 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Everyone knew depth would be a concern at Baylor after the football team lost 12 starters to graduation and more than half of its recruiting class following the sexual-assault scandal at the school.

Although it’s way too early to draw any conclusions, new coach Jim Grobe liked most of what he saw in the reserves. And he saw plenty of the backups in a 55-7 blowout win over Northwestern State, a game the Bears led 48-0 at the half.

“We played a lot of guys, and in many cases they got in there early,” Grobe said. “There were concerns going in about depth on the offensive and defensive lines.

“It remains to be seen how we’ll hold up for four quarters on the offensive line, especially with our tempo. I feel good about the guys in our first unit. The defensive line also needs to be able to rotate bodies. I am more encouraged after what I saw.”

Grobe also talked about freshman quarterback Zach Smith, the only scholarship backup to star Seth Russell. Smith, a four-star recruit from Grandview who was wanted by many big-time schools, completed 5 of 7 passes for 60 yards and a touchdown.

“I wish we would have gotten Zach more snaps but, all in all, I thought he did a great job,” the coach said. “I feel much better about him backing up Seth right now.”

Grobe was asked about his biggest takeaway from the lopsided game.

“I thought our kids had fun after all they’ve been through,” he said. “I didn’t see a lot of selfishness. We played with a lot of energy and played with class. I like the feel of the team.”

Texas A&M’s Tonny Trocha-Morelos (10) holds up a Southeastern Conference sign as he and his teammates celebrate a regular season Southeastern Conference championship after defeating Vanderbilt on Saturday, March 5, 2016, in College Station, Texas. Texas A&M won 76-67. (AP Photo/Sam Craft)

Texas A&M cut down the nets Saturday.

The Aggies haven’t done that in men’s basketball for 30 years. And 1986 was so long ago that the Ags were celebrating a Southwest Conference title that year.

Perhaps just as importantly, A&M captured its first championship in one of the Big Three sports: football, men’s basketball and baseball.

The Aggies women had won an SEC Tournament title in 2013. The Aggies also have won some SEC championships in Olympic sports. But nothing like this.

A&M clinched the SEC title on the last day of the regular season with a 76-67 victory over Vanderbilt at rabid Reed Arena.

Although Kentucky (23-8, 13-5) pulled even with A&M by beating LSU, the Aggies won the tiebreaker over the mighty Wildcats with their head-to-head victory. That was 79-77 at Reed late last month.

“I’m just at a loss for words,” senior Jalen Jones, a transfer from SMU, told reporters in College Station.

Jones scored 17 points, and freshman center Tyler Davis added 16

“It’s just overwhelming right now, all the adversity we faced during conference and all the hard work that we put in during the summer,” Jones said. “To win the conference championship feels great, and we’ve got to continue to build on this and get other championships as well.”

The Aggies dominated the Commodores in points in the paint (40-22), points off turnovers (27-14) and fast-break points (8-0).

“I’m thankful to be a part of such a special run, and I’m proud of our guys,” A&M fifth-year coach Billy Kennedy said. “We did it the way that I wanted to do it, with toughness and defense.”

Texas A&M, which has won six games in a row, will begin its SEC Tournament at noon Friday in Nashville, Tenn., against the winner of the No. 8 vs. No. 9 seed game. Those teams will be determined later tonight.

North Carolina’s Kennedy Meeks (3) defends against Miami’s Sheldon McClellan during the first half of their game in Chapel Hill, N.C., Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016. McClellan, a transfer from Texas, is the Hurricanes’ leading scorer during their nationally ranked season. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

PLANTING THE SEEDS

Overview: Our top four teams remain steady from last week. Even though Oklahoma has taken a few hits lately, the Sooners’ 78-55 December destruction of No. 1 Villanova at Pearl Harbor’s Bloch Arena should continue to carry a lot of weight. Everyone on line 2 still has line 1 potential.

Big 12 report: Texas Tech, join the party. The torrid Red Raiders are the seventh Big 12 team, and right now, they are a No. 7 seed. USA Today and CBS Sports have Tech as a seven, while ESPN’s Joe Lunardi lists Tech as an eight. Quite a rise for a team that wasn’t even in the field two weeks ago. Baylor also is on the move. The Bears have climbed from a seven to a five. They have a huge opportunity to go higher if they beat Kansas on Tuesday night (7 p.m., ESPN2).

Where’s Texas? The narrow win at Kansas State on Monday did not change a thing. The Longhorns are a No. 6 in the South. Their projected opener would be against Syracuse, with the winner likely meeting third-seeded Miami in the second round. A Longhorns-Hurricanes game would match high-scoring Miami senior Sheldon McClellan against his old team. McClellan, who fell into Rick Barnes’ dog house two years ago and transferred, is the leading scorer for the 12th-ranked Hurricanes, averaging 15.7 points. He is shooting 51.2 percent from the field.

Where’s A&M? The Aggies, putting the early February blues behind them, are on the march again. They are up to a No. 5 seed in the West. Baylor and Iowa State also are No. 5s. We project A&M to open against the winner of the First Four game between Oregon State and Butler. The Aggies will be favored to win their last four regular-season games against Mississippi State (Wednesday), Missouri, Auburn and Vanderbilt.

Dates to know: Selection Sunday, March 13; First Four (Dayton, Ohio), March 15-16; First two rounds, March 17-20; Sweet 16, March 24-27; Final Four, April 2, 4 in Houston

How to read the seeds: First team on each line is in the East Regional, second team’s in the Midwest, third team’s in the South and fourth team’s in the West. The last two teams on lines 11 and 12 and the last four teams on line 16 are assigned to the First Four games:

Baylor forward Johnathan Motley (5) scores against Texas during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016, in Austin, Texas. Baylor won 78-64.(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

No. 25 Baylor posted consecutive victories over Top 25 opponents last week, taking down Iowa State and Texas, and Johnathan Motley was one of the big reasons why.

Motley, a sophomore forward from Galena Park North Shore, was honored Monday with his first Big 12 player of the week award. Motley chalked up 51 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks combined against the Cyclones and Longhorns.

“Our guys did a great job of getting him the ball,” Bears coach Scott Drew said of Motley. “He’s had some big games for us, and that really opens thngs up for what we can do out there. Hopefully we can get him consistently playing at that kind of high level.”

Iowa State guard Deonte Burton took his fourth Big 12 newcomer of the week honor after productive games against Baylor and TCU.

“The 14 rebounds Deonte got against TCU were even better than the 23 points,” Cyclones coach Steve Prohm said. “When Deonte rebounds like that as a guard, it puts us in a good position.”

Here is the release from the league office, along with the season’s worth of honorees:

Motley was a starter for just the second and third times this season, leading Baylor to back-to-back wins versus ranked opponents. The sophomore averaged 25.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in 31.5 minutes per contest. He connected on 22-of-30 (.733) shots from the field, improving his Big 12-leading field goal percentage from .624 to .640. Motley matched his career high with 27 points against Iowa State to start the week and followed with 24 points versus Texas, making 12-of-13 (.923) from the floor in that outing. It was the fourth-best field goal percentage in one game in program history and the best mark by any Big 12 player in conference play this year. He has improved his shooting mark 22.3 percent from a season ago (.417 in 2014-15 to .640 in 2015-16).

Burton averaged a double-double for the Cyclones last week with 18.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. The junior guard connected on 56.0 percent (14-of-25) of his shots from the field and sank 88.9 percent (8-of-9) of the attempts from the free throw line. He ended the week by matching his career best with 23 points versus TCU while grabbing 14 boards. The rebounding total was eight more than his previous high. Burton also had 14 points and six rebounds in an overtime contest with Baylor. Since moving into the starting rotation, he is averaging 15.6 points and shooting 55.2 percent from the field.